"In the dead of night and amid a flurry of confusion" is not the way a news article should begin about a superintendent receiving a contract extension. But that sums up how Roger Leon got an extra two years added on to his contract in Newark. bit.ly/4oeBKsN

Hey Wake Up Call New Jersey! Laura Waters

WOW, Arne Duncan just came out in favor of private school choice, and the education tax credit in the OBBBA! washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/…

What a night, folks. Mikie Sherrill is New Jersey’s governor-elect, winning by more than just about anyone thought was possible and sweeping a huge Democratic Assembly majority in with her. Lots more to come soon, but here’s my wee-hours roundup: newjerseyglobe.com/governor/not-e…

Trump Threatens To Sue BBC Over Misleading Edit Of ‘The Vicar Of Dibley’ theonion.com/trump-threaten…

The UCSD math department administered a test to 138 students in a remedial math class, and 25% of them got this question wrong:

Scary but not necessarily shocking UCSD report below. For those of us who work in/around K-12 education, we saw witnessed the last decade of declining proficiency, grade inflation, and the watering down of graduation standards. Wake Up Call New Jersey Chad Aldeman Laura McKenna, PhD Laura Waters

“…it’s wishful thinking to assume that early math gaps will magically close on their own” Chad Aldeman Wake Up Call New Jersey Laura Waters

Good for NJEA, which "has sacked a controversial editor of its monthly magazine, ending a short tenure marked by allegations of violent, anti-Semitic views." newjerseyglobe.com/congress/forme…

This stellar research project by Chad Aldeman identifies ~5% of schools that are defying expectations and giving their students a brighter future. Major opportunities for district leaders, individual educators, and parents and students to learn from these outliers. We urgently

New: NJEA and Rep. Mikie Sherrill team receive protests from ADL New York / New Jersey and American Jewish Committee re: antisemitic convention session. njedreport.com/scoop-sherrill…

SCOOP: Sherrill and NJEA Receive Letters Blasting Union's Antisemitic Convention Session - NJ Education Report njedreport.com/scoop-sherrill…

A story edited, as one might suspect, by the remarkable Hannah Waters

Why won’t NJ reveal the results of school tests? We’re among only a handful of states that routinely wait seven months to release these statewide scores. A former official who led this work in NJ for years called the delay “very bizarre.” njspotlightnews.org/2025/11/whats-…

Also, every state except New Jersey, Maine, and Nebraska (as far as I can tell) have released 2025 statewide standardized test results. njedreport.com/unanswered-que…

Julie O'Connor Thank Julie O'Connor for writing this piece. I am hoping that NJ's new annual assessment (beginning in 2026) allows for a faster return of individual, district and statewide results. Chad Aldeman Laura McKenna, PhD Laura Waters Wake Up Call New Jersey Derrell Bradford

Related: njedreport.com/unanswered-que…

"Student achievement has fallen off a cliff" is the headline that Andrew Rice frames his story on the current state of public education - with a spotlight on New Jersey. All NJ parents should read this and be alarmed. nymag.com/intelligencer/… Laura McKenna, PhD Laura Waters Wake Up Call New Jersey

"the district’s five-year strategic plan... contains no numerical goals or any mention of how it plans to measure success. The district does not make standardized-test scores easy for parents to find, let alone act on. Individual spring testing results are posted the following

Not unique to Montclair but common throughout NJ. New Jersey Policy Institute